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Are you listening? Exploring a developmental knowledge–action dissociation in a speech interpretation task
Author(s) -
Morton J. Bruce,
Munakata Yuko
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
developmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.801
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1467-7687
pISSN - 1363-755X
DOI - 10.1111/1467-7687.00238
Subject(s) - psychology , active listening , dissociation (chemistry) , cognitive psychology , action (physics) , task (project management) , cognition , developmental psychology , cognitive science , communication , neuroscience , chemistry , physics , management , quantum mechanics , economics
Young children sometimes act inappropriately despite appearing to know what to do. Dissociations of this kind raise important questions about the organization and development of knowledge and action systems. The present study investigated a knowledge–action dissociation in 6–year–olds performing a speech interpretation task and tested the hypothesis that knowledge–action dissociations stem from a general difficulty resolving conflicting cues. When knowledge and action measures were equated in terms of the amount of conflict that needed to be resolved for a correct response, children’s knowledge no longer appeared to outstrip their ability to act appropriately. Implications of the findings for competing views of knowledge representation and knowledge–action system organization are discussed.